Monday, 14 July 2014

Courgette Noodles

There's been so much hype about these recently. Intrigued, I bought a Julienne peeler from Amazon (for a bargainous £3.29) to see what all the fuss was about.

Obviously, these carb-free noodles are packed with nutrients but I've always been a little sceptical about the taste when reading other 'zucchini' noodle recipes, but I can assure you, these really don't feel like a cheap swap. They go all squishy and soft and taste really, really good. Here's how to make them:

These ingredients are for one, so just multiply as needed.

For the noodles:

2 courgettes, spiralized (I used one courgette for myself here but I'd definitely use two next time - the noodles shrink quite a bit when they're cooking.)

Tomato puree

1/4 avocado

I like my 'pasta' really tomatoey so added double the amount of puree to avocado.

For the veg:

Half a red onion

Half a pepper

Handful of plum tomatoes

1 portobello mushroom

Paprika

Black pepper

Wedge of lime

Obviously, you can swap around your accompanying veg, I was just chopping and cooking whatever I had in the fridge, and luckily it tasted alright!

Peel your courgettes and pop them in a pan with some olive oil. Sprinkle with paprika and black pepper. Cook for five minutes.

In a separate pan toss in all your remaining vegetables and cook for ten minutes.

Mash the avocado and spoon into the courgette mix. Add a generous dollop of tomato puree and stir in.

Pop your noodles on a warm plate, arrange your veg medley around it, and give the lime a tough squeeze... and that's it!

Genuinely one of the easiest, tastiest healthy dishes I've tried.

*** UPDATE! ***

Ok, ok, I think I'm officially in love with these; I can't stop making them - currently my favourite variation is with paprika prawns. It's so easy.

1) Cook your noodles. You can either saute them as above, or steam them (I steamed them for this dish and think I prefer it this way). After they've been steamed for ten minutes, add your mashed avocado and tomato puree.

2) In a separate pan, fry off half a red onion and a clove of garlic. Add your prawns and douse in paprika. Cook for five minutes.